This article is from page 1 of the 2006-09-26 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 1 JPG
The first move in what is likely to be a nine-month long game of strategising, planning and spin began in Clare this week.
Making the first move with a walk about in Clare, Fianna Fáil leader Bertie Ahern was working to keep all three of his pawns in play.
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny believes that he needs to have just two of his four remaining pawns standing to secure victory.
He told The Clare People this week that the party hoped to gain two seats in Clare, despite claims that he is overloading the constituency with too many candidates.
“We have four exceptional candidates and as long as we work as a team and urge the voters to use their vote to change the Government, I’m confident we can take two seats.”
But who of the four candidates, Deputy Pat Breen, Cllrs Joe Carey, Tony Mulcahy and Madeleine Taylor Quinn he hopes to have left standing with him remains a mystery.
Meanwhile Mr Ahern is hoping to bring all three candidates, Deputy Tony Killeen, Senator Brendan Daly and Senator Timmy Dooley to the Dáil. Current political polls would suggest that such a move would require a lot of work however.
Speaking in Clare on Thursday the Taoiseach went so far as to suggest that the political games began with the leak of tribunal documents to a national paper.
“Who went to the trouble of such a motivated and scurrilous way of leaking what was a confidential session that I had with a tribunal and put it in the public domain?” he asked the gathered media in Kilrush after admitting the report was damaging.
“I don’t want to say it is politically motivated, but it is dirty (and) dishonest. I mean somebody went to a lot of trouble to place this in the public domain and it has been going on for the last few days,” he said.
Meanwhile Deputy Kenny is planning his strategy to call checkmate in the Banner County. The Mayoman outlined how the government has failed the people of Clare.